"...as the more we thought about it, the more we realize that mothers are pretty disposable in Disney films..." - The more "we" thought about it? Hmmm...I seem to remember that topic *initially* broached by a GROUP of people on the afternoon of Sunday, August 10th. Hmmm.... Anyho, it seems Disney has struck upon the formula of striking a chord with kids by "taking out" the Mom. Which is not a bad ploy because we all tend to say, "Hi Mom, when we're in the Super Bowl"...followed up by the Disney endorsed marketing line, "I'm going to Disney World!". Norm,

There is also only a mother and no father in the 'Toy Story' movies; the mother, aka. the Queen, in 'A Bug's Life'; and lastly in the yet to be released 'The Incredibles' you have the whole family but like you stated about 'The Lion King', the mothers are all minor or most likely minor characters...

Many classic Disney movies are based on fairy tales with a dead or non-existant mother. It seems to me that Disney carried on that tradition into their own original stories of their later films.

Mulan is still my favorite Disney movie, although I love Lilo and Stitch despite the dysfunctional family. Mulan has both parents and a grandmother, and I think that it's the best portrayal of a family in a Disney movie.

Also, I would like to point out that most undistilled fairy tales are pretty gruesome. The Little Mermaid, in the original version, has her tongue cut out by the evil sea witch, doesn't get to marry her prince, and turns into sea foam or something bizarre like that. And don't get me started on Hercules!

Disney could do a better job of making their movies more suitable for a young audience, but I don't remember being scarred for life by watching Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. I do remember watching (and loving) scary movies like Gremlins, The Rats of Nimh and The Last Unicorn, which are the first movies that I think of when I think of scary kid movies. My point is, kids like being scared to some degree. That degree probably varies from child to child, but it's the parents responsibility to evaulate the movies that their kids want to see before the kids see it. That's what we have the rating PG, parental guidance.

the list could be a lot longer. I was just commenting on this last week. It is not just limited to their animated films either.
I'll fly away home is just one. That was disney wasn't it??

I grew up on Disney and realize now what depressing movies they make. It's sad what a powerful force Disney is in shaping kids all over the world. With its sick obsession of either killing off parents or the main character not having parents, what is the message that it is so interested in saying?

After just watching Finding Nemo, I am ready to ban anything Disney. Once again, the mother dies. What a weird and morbid theme surrounding a corporation who focuses on children and family. Absolutely eerie...

Well, I guess if you're ever in a Disney make sure you stay a virgin if you're a women or you won't make it off the set...lol

It follow from a real-life experience of Walt Disney:

"Probably the most painful time of Walt's private life, was the accidental death of his mother in 1938. After the great success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt and Roy bought their parents, Elias and Flora Disney, a home close to the studios. Less than a month later Flora died of asphyxiation caused by a faulty furnace in the new home. The terrible guilt of this haunted Walt for the rest of his life."

http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio.html

If you really want to analyze this try this. What would be the most tramatic thing that could happen to a child? Losing a parent and most young children are closer to their mother than father. That makes the mother the number one target. Most disney movies try to show something horrible happening to someone young then show how that character can grow and learn and in the end overcome everything for the happy ending.

I couldn't agree more, except that you've forgotton the worst one of all - Dumbo! The mother may not have died, but she was locked away from Dumbo and was powerless to help him when the rest of the circus world were giving him shit (except for a heartbreaking trunk-through-the-bars-moment and a lullably). Somehow, Disney managed to take the 'I miss my mummy' thing to a whole new dimension, by taunting us with her rather than just killing her off in one short sharp shock as per every other film. But I'm sure other people, other than the mums, get killed off, don't they? Hmm, it's going to bug me all day until I write a 'disney death list'?!

In Mulan, neither parent was dead. The father was ill, however.

I would love to see Disney tackle Wagner's the Ring... now that would be messed up!

I actually chose this topic for my deatha nd dying class. I think the thing that bothers me other than the obvious depressing story line of loosing a parent;is the same problem I have with childrens fables. I feel that it shrugges the death off as mo big deal. It gives chidren a false sence of what really happens when a parent dies. so that if a child ever is faced with death they can't understand the dramatics that they are never coming back. I realize it wouldn't make for much of a cartoon if they went through the whole funeral process-lol but I think they should lay off the death of a parent.